Cupramine reaction?

[FlashJordan]

First time treating my fish with cupramine. They've been in a bare bottom QT for 6 mos while I broke down my old tank and built a new one from scratch. All that time they've been healthy, eating, growing even. Dosed last night the amount on the bottle. Tested copper levels this morning, read in the 0.25 range. Added a few more drops, tested later and it's in the 0.50 range (what the concentration is prescribed to be for treatment).

My two clowns are acting very lazy and not eating (which NEVER happens, especially my big female). Should I be concerned, or is this a normal reaction with this medication?

Thanks!

-J

 

[MrTuskfish]

I wish SeaChem would change the directions on Cupramine. A max of .35-.40 works great with Cupramine and the increase from zero to that level should be over several days, amusing the fish aren't really covered with parasites. When fish stop eating, I consider that the 1st sign of Cu reaction. I'd reduce Cu ASAP to no more that .25, get them eating again, then gradually increase Cu again . Cuprisorb, good carbon, or WCs will reduce Cu levels quickly.
Just curious: why are you treating at this time? Have you seen any sign of parasites over the last 6 months? I'm a believer in prophylacticly treating all fish, not everyone is.

 

[FlashJordan]

Thanks for clearing up the dosage. I'll run some carbon and see if that helps.

Just curious: why are you treating at this time? Have you seen any sign of parasites over the last 6 months? I'm a believer in prophylacticly treating all fish, not everyone is.

These are the last remaining fish from my first tank. That tank had problems from the start, and I lost pretty much all the livestock to ich. So I broke down the tank, separated my coral and fish, and decided to build a new tank from the ground up. Everything is either new or sterilized. I'm treating the fish just as a preventative, though I'm pretty sure 6 mos in a QT is ample time for ich to leave. To answer your question, no these fish have not presented in the time they've been in QT, but when in my previous tank they had.

I'll be super sad if I lose these fish after they've come so far with me... I just wanted to give them a better home! :spin2:

 

[jg93]

I wish someone had given me this advice earlier! I followed the bottle instructions and some of my fish were devastated and two outright died after I had a major Ich outbreak (a banggai cardinal and a blenny.) My tang started to look like its scales are sloughing off - though it was covered with ich and on death's door.

Good news is now the cycle is over the tang and others are eating and seem to be recovering. It was a tough two weeks - and I don't want to go through this again so I was considering prophylactic copper treating all fish before they go into the DT. I'm hoping a slower acclimation to a lower dose would help with these nasty side effects.

 

[h2so4hurts]

IME, clowns, especially saddlebacks are very sensitive to copper.